Getting noticed on Wattpad isn't easy. Sure, you can write the entirety of your story and let it sit there waiting for readers to come to you, but that will be a very slow process that will take years and limit your potential audience.

So, how do you increase your chances of your story being found? 

Step 1. The Algorithm.

Wattpad's algorithm remains a mystery to the public. Many people have come up with theories on how it works. I will be sharing some of those theories here. Please, feel free to share your own. The more information, the better!

It's not just about reads and votes. You want a combination of reads, votes, comments, and even having your story added to reading lists. The more you have all of these, the more your story will climb in the rankings. Having a consistent update schedule of one to two updates a week will also boost your rankings. Oddly enough, making quick edits and clicking the "publish" button on the top left of an already published part will count. 

How else can you boost these rankings? Having a friend with a Wattpad account read. 

Do NOT give your friend the link to your story. I know this sounds weird. Instead, have them find the story "organically" by searching via tags under the new section. Then, when they click your story, read, vote, and comment, your ranking will soar in that specific tag. At least, that's what happened to me. I will say that it should be possible to achieve the same results by having your friend click a tag on your book before they start reading.

From this information, you can probably gather that having a friend jumpstart your Wattpad journey is the best way to go. What if you don't have any friends? You could always wait for readers to naturally discover you the same way you made your friend discover your story. Or...